Heart of Glass
article is a stub, you can help us by expanding it! Strong Hearts Are Mandatory: Heart of Glass is the first book of the Mandatory Series and of The Classics Arc. The book switches between the perspective of The Jester, Radio, Studio, and Video. It's avaliable for purchase on both Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/0998851302/ and Barnes and Noblehttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/strong-hearts-are-mandatory-teelia-pelletier/1126262739 The Story (Anything after this point contains spoilers!) Prologue The book begins with a recording explaining Media's origins and the overthrow of magic. Suddenly, the recording is cut off, as the tape is destroyed. The culprit is a spider monkey, who is known as Curiosity. who then proceeds to listen to the tape's contents using cyan threads, before leaving the room. Curiosity moves through the castle, and proceeds to hide from an unnamed she-cat before confronting a marmoset jester, who is known as Inquisitive. After questioning Inquisitive, Curiosity kills him, then assuming a dark and spindly jester's outfit. Curiosity blows open a twin set of tall doors leading to the castle's thrown room with cyan magic, being accompanied by his cube. The sound from the explosion awakes the occupants of the castle, but they are powerless to stop Curiosity from confronting the occupant of the throne room, being held back by a wall of plasma. The monkey taunts the occupant, a giant crowned cheetah, who is King Capital. Capital lunges at the primate, and the monkey responds by slamming the same cube onto the cat's head, causing an explosion. An unnamed character calls out to Curiosity, referring to them as "Jester", to which Curiosity snarls, and dissipates the magic barrier holding the bystanders back, causing them to be flung away by an explosion. Inside the throne room, a crystal heart emerges from the smoke. Intrigued by it, Curiosity goes to touch it, only for the heart to have an adverse reaction on them. The heart splits Curiosity's hand into shadow. After forming it back to it's shape, Curiosity shouts and proceeds to shatter the heart. After this, a bird announces to all of the citizen's of Media that Capital had been taken away by Curiosity. The chapter ends with a snowshoe cat, known as Radio, who is still unaware of the situation that has unfolded. Chapter 1 - Communication Radio wakes up from a solid night of sleep from her windowsill to the sound of a commotion outside. Radio wonders what the noise could mean, then admires her silver and sapphire collar. Then, the three servants, Stella, Hana and Leil, burst into the room and explain the situation to Radio. Hana explains that King Capital had vanished in the night. Leil elaborates, stating that a mage was the one behind the disappearance. Radio asks what this has to do with her. Leil states that they had first contacted Frequency, Radio's sister, but says that Frequency had no interest in accepting the Council's request. The job then passes on to the youngest member of the household, which would be Radio. Stella clips the collar around Radio's neck and tells her that she must go to the Capital City immediately to meet with the Council and be further briefed there. Radio is lead to a carriage, which is driven by a serval named Oscillation. Radio gets into the carriage and waves goodbye to her servants. As the carriage pulls towards the Capital, Radio spies some documents laying beside her. She begins to peruse them, but quickly gives up interest after reading through a couple pages. Radio decides to catch up on sleep, and is about to do so before spotting the drone, Chainsaw. Radio comments about it's odd appearance, and falls asleep shortly after. Radio wakes up as the carriage pulls into the Capital. When they arrive at the Capital, she sees a ferret. Radio gets out of the carriage (with some hesitation) and greets the ferret. The ferret leads Radio through the ornately furnished castle, to an office. The ferret introduces Radio to Enterprise. Enterprise expresses that he was supposed to be meeting Frequency, but Radio snaps at him, explaining the situation to him. Enterprise leads Radio further into the castle. She inquires him about the files stating that she didn't have time to delve into them, asking if Enterprise had copies of the files. A voice startles her and Radio turns around to meet Pictures. Radio takes in his appearance, especially his multi-colored blue and yellow eyes. Pictures states that he is from Clowder City and works as a monitor. Radio introduces herself to Pictures, who soothes her about her lack of information on the mission. Pictures, much to Radio's chagrin (and amusement) begins to antagonize Enterprise. Enterprise replies back, which only further encourages Pictures. The ferret approaches Radio and leads her away from the two. Radio asks for the ferret's name, who says it's Mabel. Mabel leads Radio to a drawing room. Radio notes the large fireplace, which seems to be the central focus of the room. Pictures enters the room and apologizes to Radio, saying he can transfer his files to her. Radio and Pictures discuss the infiltration of the mage when Mabel announces the arrival of their third companion. Video then enters the room and Radio takes immediate note of the size of her. Video greets Radio and Radio tentatively responds. Video then addresses Pictures, stating that the team will be able to complete the mission. Pictures then asks about Video's relation to Signal, her father, who was solely responsible for the take down of the mage, Phantascope. Video confirms his question, stating that she wasn't necessarily trained in combat against magic. Pictures apologizes to Video, but Radio notes that it might as well have been an insult. A voice addresses the three, it's owner belonging to a monitor named Tape. Tape's sister, Recorder, walks over to them, introducing herself and her brother to the three. Radio introduces her companions to the two monitors, who lead them into the surveillance room so they can start their mission. Chapter 2 - Understanding Tape and Recorder lead the three into the surveillance room. Radio wonders why there are so many cats, and thinks about how her aunt, The Studio Star, built a city to exclusively house domestic felines. A bird flutters onto one of the cat's heads, and Radio laughs, until Recorder introduces the bird as Sensor. Recorder then introduces Widget, who nervously greets them, before retreating from the room. Recorder explains that the surveillance room is where the team will be tracking the chosen three. Recorder shows the three a picture of the Jester, and then shows them their objective, the crystal heart. Tape explains that when the Jester shattered the object, the heart's power was released, spreading the fragments far into Media's wilderness. He then states that the Jester wrote in the written language of cats. Radio is the only one to show shock, as Pictures shows irritation and Video shows slight interest. A calico she-cat explains that the Jester shape shifted to escape from the castle. She then says the Jesters states it wanted the youngest courier, monitor and noble to return the shards back to their normal state and restore the king. She then states that Frequency was the only one to turn up in their files, until her supervisor, Film, did a manual search. The she-cat then introduces herself as Cassette. Tape and Sensor then attach small chips in the inside of the three's ears. Tape and Recorder then take them through the castle and Capital towards where the first shard had landed, not far beyond the Capital's walls. They then come across the first shard of the heart. Video takes the shard from the earth, which startles Recorder, who says that anyone who touched it received severe burns as punishment. Tape then follows up, saying that they were the right ones chosen by the Jester. Video hands the shard to Pictures, who then passes it to Radio, who receives it with apprehension. Without thinking, Radio hands the shard to Tape, who reacts negatively upon coming in contact with it. Tape and Recorder say farewell to the three, wishing them good luck. With that, the three begin their journey to collect the shards. Chapter 3 - Rashness After travelling for the entire day, Video allows the team to rest. While they slept, the Jester dangles an unnamed mouse over a writhing pile of possessed rats. Though the mouse begs for mercy, he is dropped into the pit and brutally murdered. The next day, Radio tries to play a counting game by counting two things she sees (including butterflies and her companions). Video does not take this well and scolds her. Despite the fact that Pictures tries to get her to rest, Video insists that the objective comes first and that the kingdom is crumbling. After this exchange, the trio begins hunting (which contradicts Video's previous objections to taking any breaks). Radio learns how to pounce on her prey from Pictures. Tape and Recorder contact the team and reveal the location of the next glass shard; it is near a small critter village to the east. Before they can get there, the Jester attacks them and startles Radio. After Video defeats him, the citizens of the village cheer her on. The stoat leader, Faith, takes them aside and explains the story of The Guardians, who were the rats from the night before. According to Faith, the Jester posed as a new recruit for the unit and successfully befriended the other soldiers. However, he created fake stories to cause them to become angry at each other. The soldiers began to disappear, and the last known unit that was sent to search for them decided to go separate ways and vanished shortly afterwards. When Faith confronted the recruit about the matter, he transformed into the Jester and said it was the fault of the Guardian rats for being so bitter. The village was left defenseless against him ever since. When Video asks about any glowing objects, Faith says a sparrow found one in a cave while scouting for the missing rats. Pictures convinces the trio to look for it during that night, as opposed to the next day. Tape and Recorder contact them and reveal that the next shard is near a street by the Ruined City. After obtaining the shard, Video asks to be taken to the caverns, where the Guardian Rats are currently located. While they are at the cavern, the Jester appears. He tries to kill Video by dropping her into the pit, but she survives and defeats all of the rats. Video still shows no desire to rest, even though she fought off a mage and multiple conjoined rats. They continue on to the Ruined City, where Radio hopes less blood will be shed. Meanwhile, in Clowder City, Studio announces the Fourth Annual Aureate Festival. Before she can finish, the Jester appears above her. He addresses her in the presence of one of the drones belonging to Signal, and he disappears before Studio can fight him. She asks Screen, her assistant, to write a letter to Film. Written inside is a plea for more surveillance, to make sure there are none are being wrongfully convicted by Signal or any of the monitors for treachery, and to find if there are any traitors in the Department of Communications (since the Jester said something documented in private reports that he could not have obtained). Chapter 4 - Integrity The three stop to rest right before dawn, and as Video sleeps after the exhausting battle, the travellers get a decent amount of sleep and carry on well. Video walks with barely a limp. At the beginning of the chapter, Radio is trying to practice her hunting skills on Video, pouncing on her tail. Video rolls her eyes, but waves her tail a little as sheight have for a kitten. Radio is still determined to catch the tail, though. Pictures asks the small cat what is she going to do with her prey, as it is twice her own size, and begins to stalk, too. Radio mumbles that this is a future consequence which she doesn't have to worry about at this moment, but grins, hearing the playful tone in her companion's voice. Radio tries to grip Video's fur with her pawpads, but couldn't do it no matter what, and then starts leaping on the giant tail with her claws extended. Pictures says that this isn't a good idea and frowns, then hears the sound of skin breaking under Radio's claws. The little noble starts apologizing to Video, but when she glares at her, Radio starts running away. Pictures tries to stop her, but the cat keeps running. Suddenly, Radio stops, feeling the heat coming from the forest she stumbled upon. She decides to Explorer it a bit, knowing it is her last chance to do it, as they reached the corner of the overgrown territory. Radio is amazed, and she thinks the forest looks more like the jungle than a place found in Media. The noble realizes that the other two have caught up to her only when Pictures speaks, asking if (WIP, MORE TO BE ADDED) Trivia Category:Books Category:The Classics Category:Heart of Glass